I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand.           Colossians 4:18

There has been much discussion throughout history of Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.”  This phrase in Colossians, Galatians 6:11, and others have opened the door for many theories concerning his eyesight.  

I believe that every other time I have read one of these strange little side notes, my mind has turned to this.  What of Paul’s affliction, what was wrong with his eyes, was it degenerative, did he die blind?  The investigative side took the words and went down that road.  

Today the Lord, as He beautifully does, took something I’d read so many times and allowed me to see it from another angle.  What of the men who wrote for him?

Paul was called to such inconceivable greatness in the Kingdom of God.  He was used so mightily and so expansively–his work made my faith possible!  None other had considered that Christ’s sacrifice might have been enough for me too.  Paul was pivotal in God’s plan of worldwide evangalization.  

And he couldn’t even see to write.

Wouldn’t you imagine that at some point God said he needed to be careful with those letters he desired to send, that correspondence he’d like to maintain because those words would go down in history as God’s own.  For a man who couldn’t write a legible word, wouldn’t he have thought, “You want me to be your pen through all of history and you haven’t even given me the ability to see the words on the page?”

I believe I would have questioned my ability to hear, I would have doubted His genius in the matter, I would have wondered how much easier it might be if I could just sit down and do all these great things He’d called me to.

So why couldn’t he?  Why did God inflict him with a thorn that seemed to be a deterrent, an obstacle in the job God Himself had given him to do?

You will never accomplish all that God has for you without a few ghost writers on your path.

Could self-sufficiency speed things up? Sure.  Could it flow better and save arguments and hours of compromise discussions if one person could just buckle down and do the task with the blessing of God’s time?  It does make sense.  

However, God will never call you to anything for which you must isolate yourself from other believers in order to accomplish it. Some roads must be walked lonely, some calls and some stands may feel like they happen solo, some decisions must be made that leave you the odd man out.  But in order to fulfill all your greatness, all the wonder for which He made you, He will never have you totally self sufficient.  Humility is in need.  Only in that will we give Him His due.

For any call He has on your life, there will likely be a gap or two in the chain of ability.  There will be some part of the plan that you are simply unable to accomplish or accomplish sufficiently.  There are aspects of your own life and purpose that require the participation of other believers.  Some jobs you are not equipped to do.

For all Paul’s confidence and influence, God kept him in a place of humble need.  It may well have been this imposition which led to Paul’s absolute delight in the unity and camaraderie of the Body of Christ.  No one in history seems to have enjoyed companionship in the Kingdom like Paul.  Perhaps it’s because, in his need, he saw clearly the value of it.

What have you been called to?  What role might you need to turn to others to fulfill?  What burdens are meant for a team of oxen? Just because God has called you to great and awesome tasks for His glory does not mean that He has called you to accomplish them without others willing to grab their pens and write for you.